


ghost stories

by fated_addiction



Series: gold medals are for babies [2]
Category: A Pink (Band), GOT7, Girl's Day (Band), K-pop, KARA (Band), Red Velvet (K-pop Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: AU, F/M, Friendship, Romance, all the aus, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-16
Updated: 2015-06-16
Packaged: 2018-04-04 15:13:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4142454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fated_addiction/pseuds/fated_addiction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Seulgi has a list. It's almost like a hit list.</i>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>When all else fails, Seulgi plans to blame Hyeri. It's the rational thing to do. (A <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/4108723">not your high school universe</a> side story.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	ghost stories

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't exactly plan to do this. But halfway through writing '[not your high school universe](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4108723)', I figured that I had a lot of other stories that I wanted to tell. So here we are. Enjoy!

Seulgi has a list. It's almost like a hit list -- she's so not saying that it is.

Okay. Maybe.

It's been revised, of course, and it's date specific. Like today, for instance, started the very high stress preparations for Youngji's baby shower and even though, she's the best friend, those preparations fall to their two other friends, Namjoo and Hyeri. 

"The last time you planned a party," Namjoo reminded her, "there was fire, a lot fire."

"And no cupcakes," Hyeri supplied.

So she was talked into this bakery adventure, after promises of spoilers for her latest drama and fire safety courses because this shower had to be no less than perfect, since neither Youngji nor Jackson could plan the right kind of party. That's a lie, and they all know it, since Youngji is the master of planning strange, thoughtful, and incredibly beautiful events -- she's sure that the girls, including Joy, want to one up their friend; Seulgi admitted defeat in middle school, so she's okay with this.

What she is not okay with is awkwardly standing next to one of Jackson's friends, who sort of ambushed her on this bakery trip, who ALSO happens to play the lead in her current drama and has send no more than fifteen words to her every time he sees her.

Today though, he seems equally confused and just as annoyed as she as being together at this shop. She watches him out of the corner of her eyes, seeing how easily he switches faces, every time a fan comes up to him.

The shop is pretty too. It's in a small corner, run by two friends. They've already given her a coffee sample. She likes that there are flowers everywhere and that it's bright. But her blissful, slow silence is interrupted when JB touches her elbow.

"Cupcakes are a stupid idea," and it's bad joke. She knows because he's struggling to make sure it comes off that way. She's learned that, weirdly enough, because he gets this wrinkle along the side of his mouth.

Her voice is dry though. "You're not the pregnant woman. Your say, as a gender, has been revoked."

He scoffs. She ignores the fact that she sees him ALMOST smiling.

JB or Im Jaebum is a friend of Jackson's. In fact, from what she understands, they were training together to be in some sort of group, but Jackson's career as, well, an Olympian took off and JB made his debut. He's super talented. She'll begrudgingly tell him too. (Thank GOD, he's not one of those actors that asks.) And she thinks he's only good thing to come out of this drama project.

She sighs. It's just awkward standing in a bakery with him on basically what is a mission to get cupcakes that say CONGRATULATIONS it's a ????? on it since Youngji and Jackson don't want to know the sex of the baby yet.

"This is weird," she mutters, rubbing her face.

"The cupcakes?"

He struggles. He's awkward, almost ridiculously so, and it makes her want to laugh. Or pinch his cheek. It's a nice change from wanting to hit him daily, she'll admit.

"You," he says finally. JB offers her a coffee. It comes out of the blue, from one of the baristas, who smile shyly and asks for an autograph later. Seulgi nearly rolls her eyes. 

"This," JB continues too. "Us --"

"Sure," she shrugs. "Yeah, it's weird."

"So --"

"Hyeri," she answers. His blank expression makes her sigh. "Lee Hyeri," she says. "The model. She's a friend." She pauses, shrugging. "Although Namjoo is equally to blame in this. Both girls likes to plan parties a little too much and Joy is too busy planning her own wedding to keep me from killing both of them. So I had to actually exercise a lot of patience. And there was cake, I guess."

"Doesn't cake usually --" his mouth closes, but he laughs. It's a little too low, but she hears it, training her gaze onto him. "I won't ask," he promises. "Sorry. I'm not used to you ... this way."

Seulgi shrugs.

She doesn't know what to say. It's almost cute. He even seems shy.

They just stand next to each other though, both gripping their coffees with equal restraint. She tries and thinks about things to fill the silence with. She won't talk about work. She'll just get a headache and part of her wonders if that's why he's trying to push everything else into a conversation, since he probably doesn't want to talk about work either. Maybe he feels obligated to talk. Maybe Youngji threatened him. Who knows?

One of the owners appears, pulling a line of employees behind her and a giant batch of cupcakes in two boxes. Her eyes are huge. They spell out congratulations, of course, and she bites back a laugh as she spots the giant question mark that Namjoo promised.

"This is a lot of cupcakes."

Her eyes close. "I hate them," she says. "I prefer cake. I don't get the point of tiny things."

JB snorts, covering his mouth with a hand. She swears he laughs. "Does she really like them?"

"Youngji?" Seulgi bites her lip, shrugging again. "Sometimes. She prefers pork. But when you're pregnant, you like things that you tend to stay away from. Like bananas. She hates bananas. But all of the sudden, I get a phone call on set and she's like, I'm having an emotional crisis, Seulgi-ah. And here I'm thinking, as her best friend, she's worried about the baby. Or, you know, Jackson is a serial killer --"

JB scoffs. "He'd be the worst serial killer," he supplies. "Believe me."

" -- well, whatever. But it's like a contractual obligation as the best friend to listen to these things when the fiancé is still trying to come to terms with knocking up a girl."

"You should write a drama," he says dryly.

She flashes a victory sign, grinning. "Funny you should say --"

He laughs, like _really_ laughs, and she can feel her face warm because she's trying to come to terms with the fact that this is the first, real pleasant conversation she has had with him that don't involve rewrites, his insane co-star that the network decided to pick, or the fact that he feels like his character-input should extend to the wardrobe, which, by the way, is insanely aggravating since SHE DID NOT WRITE A HISTORICAL DRAMA.

But they have things to do and she has to get these cupcakes back to Hyeri's place before she starts getting text messages about tragic disappearances and more spoilers. She may hate her friends. Just a little.

JB takes a box. She takes the other one. She thanks the owner and hopes that the two of them carrying about ninety-two cupcakes look less like a scandal and more like two people doing their best friends a GIANT favor.

"This was weird," she says.

He looks at her funny and maybe, his expression is just a little bit soft. He doesn't say anything, but carries the cupcakes with her back to her car and loads them in.

"Yeah," he agrees. "It was."

Her keys feel a little heavy in her hand.

 

 

 

 

 

The day before the baby shower, Namjoon calls her and is like, "YO our lead actress is insane and she doesn't want to kiss him..." which would be fine, if, you know, the network hasn't hyped up the BIG kiss between her actors for the last couple of days, going into the weekend, and three hours before they have to get the reel into the building for the drama's time slot.

Neither of them are surprised by Hana's dramatics though. Her flare for all sorts of antics are notorious in the industry. She's an excellent actress. She's won all sorts of awards. People just hate working with her, but she's a network darling and they pay the bills.

Seulgi has been sitting in Namjoon's office for the better part of the day. They've been friends for years. This is their third or fifth project together. She can't remember. All he does is remind her that he's in love with Namjoo and tells her that she's a terrible friend for not doing anything about it anyway. They usually can figure their way around Hana's antics though, but this time around, this has everything to do with JB and the script and nothing to do with them or the staff of their show.

"This is bullshit."

Seulgi groans, rubbing her eyes. "The next time I work with you, can we not work with crazy actors? Or, like, anyone that is going to lose it because her heels are black and it's not the summer collection hipster heritage nonsense that I ALSO got a phone call today about."

"Min Yoongie says he misses you too."

She throws a pen at Namjoon's head. He smirks and catches it easily.

"I can't just work with you two idiots," she says. "Even though, I only work with Min Yoongi-oppa when he gets bored with music."

"The music video was sick," Namjoon agrees.

She groans, rubbing her eyes. Her head is spinning. Maybe she'll write a historical drama next time. Costumes are set. The actors are easier to work with. She can make her two leads fight to the death instead of, like, making out.

"Do we just make them do it?"

"That'll go over well," she says dryly. "You're the one who she likes."

"He likes you."

Her eyes are huge.

She has no idea what to say to that and only agrees, or sort of agrees, because her face flames up and her cheeks are red enough to send Namjoon into peals of laughter. She grabs the script off his desk, rolls it in between her hands and walks downstairs to the actors' makeup area. You're insane, she tells herself.

Dealing with JB has always been unexpected. His mood swings are not as, well, violent as Hana and her mood swings. This is work, after all, and not, well, cupcakes.

She knocks on the door before she enters though, sliding inside and nodding to an assistant when she passes her. She spots JB with his management team. He meets her gaze in the mirror, then mumbles something to one of his managers, who smiles at her and steps out to disappear too.

Seulgi doesn't know why she's so nervous all of the sudden. She rubs her hand against her arm.

"So."

He eyes her. "The cupcakes survive?"

"One passed away," she deadpans. "But he was remembered really well. For breakfast, actually."

"That's not a real breakfast."

"Whatever."

His mouth curls. His head tilts and then he stands, turning to lean against the arm of his chair. He's dressed for his scene today, she notices, and the suit jacket lies folded over the back of his chair too. She watches as he rolls his sleeves over his elbows.

"She's insane." JB is blunt. "I'm trying my best," he adds quietly.

She shrugs. "She wasn't my pick," she says. "But Hana is a fantastic actress. One that you're contractually obligated to kiss. No one said that you had to like her."

"I know, I know." He rubs his eyes. "And I don't, for the record. I just --"

"Don't like her," she finishes.

He grabs the script by the makeup. He holds it up. She raises an eyebrow, waiting. JB gives her this look though, one she can't quite place.

"Just ... go over it with me?"

"The scene?" she asks dumbly.

"Yeah," he says. "I just need to refocus. Maybe it'll help before we actually do it."

Warning bells are screaming in her head. She has rules, you know. You can talk to the actors. You can even be friends with them. But there's an invisible line that she's erected. She's never practiced her stuff with any of them.

Her mouth opens. Then it closes. He offers her the script, but she shakes her head, tapping her forehead. She tosses her copy to an open chair. She forces herself to swallow too. What are you doing, she asks herself.

Her voice sounds strange to her ears. "I'll be fine," she says.

JB shrugs, following her decision, and tosses the script to the side.

Something strange happens. He looks at her. She looks at him. Somehow, she gets exactly what is going to happen in the moment. She could explain it rationally -- it's today's scene, it's THE scene, he picked it because it's the freshest and all of these things make sense. 

There's just something about the way he looks at her. The room feels a little small.

His voice is steady. "I don't believe in ghosts."

"That's not the point," she says easily. Her fingers tap nervously over her knees. "You don't have to see them. I DO. It's not like I have a sign on my forehead that says PSYCHIC POWERS AT LARGE or, even better, hey free ghost therapy here. And by the way, you came to me --"

He grabs her abruptly. She stumbles into him and forgets to catch herself. It feels completely out of the blue. Her heart starts to race. Her throat dries and even though every rational fiber inside of her is screaming YOU KNEW THIS WAS COMING, she forgets to almost breathe.

His face changes. He goes from serious to soft, the corners of his mouth twitching. His gaze remains serious and one of his hands pushes her bangs away from her face.

"I hate that I can't protect you from what I can't see," he says.

Then he kisses her.

She registers the taste of his mouth almost as quickly as she remembers that she's just had coffee. There's mint. There's that burnt taste from earlier. It's just that he's suddenly, inexplicably sweet. He nudges her closer, biting at her lip and she makes this noise, somewhere between a growl and a sigh. It feels like he's trying to learn who she is and it unnerves her, almost as much as the fact that she's kissing him back.

They break apart. She doesn't know who does it first. It doesn't even matter, but she stares at him, wide-eyed, maybe confused.

He smiles. There's a knock on his door and his manager returns into the room.

"Hana's calmed down," he says. "We're going on set to shoot."

Seulgi is almost relieved. 

It takes a half an hour to shoot. They get it right in two takes and Seulgi can barely watch, burying herself into the script.

JB disappears to change first, another schedule or so his manager says. Hana leaves with a little more fanfare, coming up to her with _dripping_ sweetness to say how sad she is about the project nearing its end.

Namjoon hands her a coffee. "Hey," he says. "Is Namjoo seeing anyone?" And when she doesn't answer, he starts to laugh. "I knew he was going to grow on you," he says.

Seulgi hits him hard.

 

 

 

 

 

"He _what_."

Youngji stares at her, wide-eyed, hand midway into a bag of chocolate chips. They are supposed to be making cookies. Seulgi swears that the universe is just conspiring against her. With baked goods.

"Shut _up_ ," Seulgi hisses, covering her best friend's mouth. "Shut up, you know they can probably hears us. And Jackson doesn't know how to mind his business."

Youngji laughs against her hand, her eyes bright. She gently pushes back, putting the chocolate chips down too and resuming her place by the backing sheets.

They've been making cookies for most of the morning as a surprise for Hyeri's debut anniversary. It was Youngji's idea and her words were somewhere along the line of 'baby shower' and 'I'm pregnant' which have nothing to do with anything, as far as Seulgi is concerned. It's been fun though and they've laughed a lot, even as Jackson announced that he was coming over to crash their cookie session. He also conveniently decided to forget that he was bringing JB with him.

"Was it good?" Youngji teases.

Seulgi glares, blushing.

"Yah!"

She shrugs. "Legit question," she says. Youngji's bangs fall into her eyes. "Especially when you're on the bring of your very own scandal."

"Not a scandal," Seulgi says. Her eyes narrow. "No one saw anything."

"His fan girls are going to try and sacrifice you to a herd of wild elephants," her best friend says. "Or tigers. I think elephants would be better."

There's a pause. They listen to Jackson's loud laugh.

"If I'm going to go that way, at least it's not boring," she replies dryly. "Just promise me that Hyeri won't wear one of those giant, stupid hats at my funeral. Or confess to Min Yoongi. I want to be alive for that."

They both laugh. Seulgi pauses, mid-cookie sheeting, and moves to where Youngji stands. Her best friend has been taking this whole pregnancy thing in stride. Maybe it's because Youngji has always been the strongest out of all of them, even when they were kids, but the other woman is glowing and even though there were some bumps in the road, she seems to be genuinely happy.

Her hand brushes over Youngji's belly. She studies it in wonder.

"Have you guys thought of any names?"

"No," Youngji groans. "We argue a lot about it. Some days we settle on Peanut," she says in amusement too. "And ninety percent of the time we decide on Baby Heo-Wang."

Seulgi laughs, delightedly. "A hypen?"

Youngji grins. "Baby Heo-Wang because it's fun to say and we're not married yet, so."

"That's so like you."

They talk quietly after that, reassembling the cookies into separate sheets. She thinks that if Youngji hadn't gone into photography and she hadn't gone into writing, they'd either be in a girl group together or own a restaurant. Both of them have been cooking for years, helping around their parents' respective shops and feeding a long, laundry list of siblings and friends.

It's just a nice break from the insanity that she has to deal with on a day to day basis.

"You should come with him."

Seulgi blinks. She looks up from her side of the cookies.

"What?"

"To the baby shower," Youngji clarifies. "He'd like that." The other woman's amusement is clearly. "Jaebum-oppa," she teases.

"What about _me_?"

It's like all of the sudden Youngji's developed that weird, maternal insight that her own mom has and displays from time to time. Youngji just shrugs off her surprise, sliding the first two cookie sheets into the oven.

"What about you," she says. "I'm your best friend. I already knew that you liked him. That part's the no brainer."

Seulgi's jaw drops. 

She has no time to respond though. Jackson bursts through the door, holding up his phone.

"Hey," he says, "my mom's on the phone --"

He grabs Youngji by the hand, ignoring the pleas and laughter of her best friend as she stumbles and tries to clean herself up. They start to argue and somewhere between the 'YAH I'm pregnant!' and 'We're sending Peanut to meditation classes!' she can hear excited laughter and Youngji talking quietly to her future in-laws.

Then she realizes that JB is right next to her. Startled, she catches him stealing a piece of raw cooking dough from a sheet.

"Cookies, this time." His amusement is almost sharp. "Are baked goods your secret hobby then?"

She smiles weakly. "I guess." She tries to play cool, stumbling into some kind of retort. "It just reaffirms how boring I am if this is my secret hobby though."

"What about an actual meal then?" He tries and steals more cookie dough, but she has the presence of mind to smack his hand away with a spoon. "With real food," he adds.

She's confused, of course, because her mind automatically flashes to the word DATE because it's just a word and not, like, an actual event on her calendar that she sets nine alarms to. She wouldn't, you know. Set nine alarms.

"I'll cook," he says.

She blinks. "You cook?"

"Yeah," he says, shrugging. "I almost went to culinary school. Other stuff just happened."

Seulgi tilts her head to the side. "Other stuff?"

"I'll make you dinner first," he says, amused. "Then I'll tell you the story."

"Can't start the story that ambiguously."

He finds another piece of cookie dough this time, eating it blatantly in front of her. "I can if I want to take you out on a date."

Oh, she thinks. OH. He takes a step around the counter and he's closer, maybe too close, but close enough for her to register that he's here and that Jackson and Youngji are in the other room, both prone to ruin any sort of moment. He reaches for her, his fingers curling around her wrist. He tugs at it.

"Should I beg?" he asks, and his voice is low, that stupid kind of low. She's a smart girl. She writes dramas. She knows when she's being targeted for some kind of point.

"Beg?" she asks, or tries to asks. Instead, she's sure it just comes out like: "Um."

The smile happens before anything registers. It's bright. It's big. It does a complete number on her, turning her insides out and to the point where she loses any sort of knowledge on how to breathe. She stares at him in some kind of awe, her gaze falling onto his mouth. She blames the kiss. Of course, she blames the kiss.

"You can feed me," she says. Her voice is low. "Dinner," she adds.

"Good." There are literal butterflies in her stomach, she thinks. He steps closer and she pulls a hand up to protest, but it just lands against his chest.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," she says.

That smile reappears and there's a dangerously shy feeling that uncoils in the pit of her belly. Her mouth opens and he shakes his head.

"I already have your number," he tells her.

She is going to KILL Youngji.

 

 

 

 

 

Hana cancels their date.

In a scene out of a drama, her very OWN drama, the actress that is also sometimes known as H and Our Lady Romance, breaks down into an epic, Battle Royale meltdown, complete with screams and throwing pieces of the set. Neither she nor Namjoon are around until the end, where she tries to calm down Hana as she usually does -- cigarettes and, er, G-dragon -- and Namjoon tries to bribe Hana with Min Yoongi's phone number. It's on the internet an hour later and she is fielding calls from the station and Hana's management, demanding that she take a side.

The ratings are also up. So as far as the network is concerned, Hana can burn down the set and they'd still be happy.

She hides in her office though, staring blankly at the script for the finale on her laptop. Maybe she'll kill Hana off, she thinks. Her hair is pilled high into a bun, her glasses falling off her nose. There's a knock. She feels a little like a mess.

"I'm not drunk yet," she calls. "And if it's Namjoon-oppa, I'm not drinking with you."

The door opens.

She should be surprised that it's JB, but somehow, she's not. What surprises her is that she can read the shyness written into his posture and even his face. He smiles, just a little, and then shuts the door behind him.

She leans back in her chair.

"Hi."

"Hey," he greets awkwardly.

Seulgi thinks she should probably invite the guy to sit down or something. Since he kissed her.

But the right words seem to struggle around in her head, almost as if they're refusing to come out. She sighs, closing her laptop.

He finally beats her to it.

"Are you okay?" His hands slide into his pockets. "With this latest --" he shrugs, "thing, I guess."

She rubs her eyes. "I'm just the writer," she says.

"You've never been just the writer," JB replies, moving to her desk. He leans against the edge closest to her chair, studying her space with interest. "That's why everyone wants to work with you."

She meets his gaze.

"She'll be fine tomorrow," she says, after awhile. "Depending on the internet, of course," she says too. "As usual."

"Was I your choice?"

She blinks.

"You said that you never picked Hana," he murmurs. "But Namjoon-hyung made a comment to me the other day and it made me think about --"

"Yes," she interrupts. She's blunt. "You were. You were also my first, despite the rumors, and I fought really hard to get you here."

He stares at her. She can't quite read his expression, but it's there and she thinks it may or may not be some kind of awe.

Seulgi's honest though. It feels like a confession. She'll have time to feel stupid later.

"I've seen almost all your movies and have watched a few of your dramas." Her nose wrinkles. "Even the really dumb one about the giant spiders attacking the city -- I _hate_ spiders, dude."

He laughs. "Seriously?"

"You're talented," she says. "And I wanted someone that would be honest with this part. It was important to me. Yes, it's a supernatural show and all of that is cool and I had a really good time doing the research and writing. But at the end of the day, it's a love story and it's imperfect for a reason -- imperfect love stories are the most interesting ones."

He says nothing, but continues to watch her and she supposes that's all part of his thing of being THE COOL GUY. She doesn't know him well enough as it is.

But she likes him, she thinks. After all that is said and done, she really likes him. He's a surprise, one after another, and there is something to be said about that too. 

"I'll wait for you."

She blinks. "Forever?" She claps her hand over her mouth in embarrassment. She fans her face too. "I can't believe that just came out of my mouth."

He laughs, really laughs, and reaches forward, his hands cupping her face. She makes a soft sound and then his mouth slides over her forehead. It's still a _kiss_.

"No, idiot," he says. "For dinner."

"You're so weird," she mutters. "You know that?"

He tucks her hair behind her ear. Leaning back, he even steals her hand in his. His fingers fit against the back of her hand too, stroking her skin. It feels frighteningly familiar.

"Well, you'll need to feed yourself," he counters, "and it's pretty obvious we're not getting out of here at a normal time."

Seulgi groans softly. JB chuckles too.

"Hana," she sighs, remembering. Her mouth feels warm. She licks her lips and then watches him study her mouth.

He clears his throat. "We can order noodles," he supplies.

"I'm a messy eater," she warns.

JB laughs again, poking her forehead.

"I think I might love that too," he says.

 

 

 

 

 

Namjoo is the first to call. 

Seulgi is half-buried in her bed, a book at her feet and JB's shirt wrapped around her. Don't ask her how it got to her apartment, but it's there and it's warm and he is SO not getting it back. She won't tell you about his tooth brush either. She barely pays attention to what her friend says on the phone until she says something about _noodles_ and _news_.

"Wait," Seulgi yawns, "what?"

Namjoo laughs.

"You've made the news desk," she says. "Congratulations -- you have your first scandal, my friend. Even Bomi sends her regards, you know."

She doesn't know whether she should laugh, cry, or laugh and cry because the noodles weren't even that good and, well, the internet is basically confirming that she has a boyfriend. Or thinks that she has a boyfriend. It's weird. It's exciting. Those stupid butterflies are back in her stomach too, fluttering their way to the back of her throat as she starts to turn onto her belly, burying her laughter into her pillow.

Twenty minutes later, she gets a text.

 _NOW, you have to let me cook for you_.

Seulgi smiles brightly.

"Idiot," she says.


End file.
